July 3, 2017 — Another Papua New Guinea fisheries observer has gone missing at sea.
He has been named as James Junior Numbaru, a certified Pacific Islands Regional Fisheries Observer in his 20’s with six years of observer experience. This brings to six the number of Pacific observers missing at sea while four in Papua New Guinea alone.
A statement issued yesterday by the PNG Fisheries Forum Agency (FFA) states Mr Numbaru was reported missing by the Chinese flagged, PNG-chartered purse seiner FENG XIANG 818 on Monday 26 June.
Attempts to get comments from the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) and the Minister for Fisheries Mao Zeming were unsuccessful.